Strike

The Highland, Illinois teachers’ union reached a settlement with the district’s board of education late Thursday afternoon, ending a week-long teacher strike. Students will be back in class Friday after missing six days of school.

In a press release, Highland Superintendent Mike Sutton said the new teacher contract is good for three years and includes a provision to make up the missed school days. With school back in session Friday, school-sanctioned activities are now back on the weekend schedule, including the high school football game.

The mass transit agency Metro says buses and trains will run as usual for Fair St. Louis this week, despite the possibility of a labor strike.

Vice president of marketing and communications Dianne Williams says Metro is monitoring negotiations with its union, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788.

"We do expect to be able to serve Fair St. Louis this week," Williams said. "We will, if we're able, have extra services out on the street. We do every year for Fair St. Louis to accommodate the crowds."

Grocery stores across Missouri are running out of Twinkies and other Hostess products, following today’s announcement that the company is going out of business.

Shoppers had already been snapping up Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other Hostess-made snacks prior to the announcement that the company was closing. Lori Willis is spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based Schnucks grocery chain. She says they expect to completely run out of Hostess snack products by Saturday.

“As a retailer, this is the very last thing you want to hear, that you’re not going to be able to meet the needs of your customers, so we’re working very hard with a lot of other suppliers to make sure that we can fill in where we can," Willis said.

Faculty at Southern Illinois University's flagship campus in Carbondale will be voting later this month on whether to go on strike as part of a lingering contract dispute.

The Southern Illinoisan reports that the group representing tenured and tenure-track faculty at the 20,000-student school voted unanimously Thursday to seek a strike-authorization vote. That means the entire membership will vote Sept. 28 on whether a walkout is in order.